The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-10-01
ST. LOUIS CAPTURED.


The Advance Guard of the Grand Army
Together with Thousands of just Plain
Citizens Capture the Future Great
The City in Gala Attire 90 Receive the
Advancing Hosts.
ST. Louis, Sept. 26.-The city is taken.
The advance guard of the conquering host
arrived yesterday morning, one coutin-
gent advancing from the West and an
other from the East the combined forces
numbering several thousand, and the city
surrendered. The throngs also of private
citizens arriving on every train, intent on
spending a festive week, has already filed
the city with a crowd as large as
ordinarily graces the fall festivities. What
it will be by tonight when the main army
will have arrived can only be conjectured;
but certain it is that st. Louis will have
such crowd Of visitors on hand as will
tax ii TO the utmost to care for and enter
tain.
Every thing is in holiday attire, the dec
orations, both public and private, are on q
most lavish scale, and being in honor of the
assembling veterans, are all of National
character instead Of the mystic insignia
of the Vailed Prophet, which usually at
this season adorn the city. Patriotic
notices, corps badges, welcoming greet
ings and the National colors are every
where flung to the breeze, while many
beautifully arranged illuminated designs
on various buildings attest the desire to
d o honor to the presence in our midst OF
Nations defenders.
Miles upon miles of public Illuminating
works are in position, ready to transform
the streets at night into veritable scenes
of fairyland, with their hundreds Of thou
sands of brilliant and many-colored jets,
and the handsomely decorated stands at
various points along the route of the
grand parade lend additional brlliancy to
the general effect. The piece de resistance
! of the decorative work however, is the
! grand triumphal arch, under which the
veterans will pass just before reaching
the reviewing stand. This is now COM
! pleted, and is a conspicuous object
both on account Ct its simple,
yet massive design, and the ar
tistic skill with which it has been
constructed. At a short distance it APP
pears to be solid stone structure, and as
if it might stand for ages, instead of, as il
is, q magnificent specimen of the scene
builders art. 1t appropriately decorated
with the insignia of the G. A. r.,
and bears the implements Of grim
visaged war in appropriate group
ings, with also a handsome eques-
trian portrait of General Grant, the whole
surmounted with the representation of a
fiery chariot drawn by four spirited horses
bearing Mars, the god Of war, 70 the bat
tie front.
The various parks of the city were visit
ed by thousands yesterday, WHO were
curious to see what military camp
looked like, for within them tents have
been pitched to accommodate from
twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand
men. These are under the charge of
regular camp guards, detailed from the
local posts, and will doubtless be the
scenes of many interesting gatherings
during the week, though whether there
will be much sleeping done in them is an
open question, as the time allotted for the
stay of the veterans will be all too short
, for many of them to renew old acquaint.
. ances and cultivate the new ones they
will make.
? Much interest centers in the grand
, parade to take place tomorrow, as it il
expected to be the greatest event of the
e kind in this country since the great review
a in Washington at the close of the war
: Careful estimates place the number that
!. will be in line at nearly 10000, and these
' will be reviewed by an equa
/. numbers of their comrades who, by reason
I of age and infirmities, are unable to stanC
the fatigues of the march. The arrange
= ments for the parade are of the most per
n feet description, having been made by
g men whose military training has familiar
lied them with the moving of large bOdie!
/ of men, and the route has been laid out 81
i as not to unnecessarily fatigue the par
n Elephants.
: Mayor Francis has declared tomorrow
= public holiday, and has also refused t
n grants permits to any one to display ban
t ners across the streets, limiting sucl
o decorations to the National colors.
The people of st. Louis are in the mos
= hospitable mood, and nothing viii be lief
,, undone to make their thousands of visitor
4. feel that they have done we
: in coming, and it is earnest
e ly hoped on all hands that n
e untoward event may come to mar the pei
$ feet harmony of the occasion. With pleas
@ ant weather there is no doubt that 81
;. Louis has before her one of the most in
n teresting weeks festivities in her history
o and the Grand Army of the Republic tn
IL greatest reunion it ever had or ever wi
have.